Dogs

I want to ask people who has dogs or know a lot about dogs. I want to ask
how do you cut dogs nails?? Since I have a Lab/yellow. It is a lot harder to do it then cats. Do I have to bring him to a groomer?? Which Dog food do you use?? What is the best leash and collar???? Do you use a dog door????
Sorry for so much questions. ^_^

I prefer to have a groomer trim my dogs nails. The quicks are hard to see and I've nailed Bozy a couple of times. Man, talk about blood. I feed my dogs Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul and we use nylon leashes and collars. They're machine washable.

My dog is a lab mix.
I use a dremmel tool and grind/file his claws down, but I don't recommend you do this without a lot of dremmel practice.
Take him to a groomer.

I feed Nutro Lamb & Rice.

If your dog pulls, use a gentle leader head collar (I used one for training.)
Now I use a wide nylon Martingale style collar.

6 foot nylon leash for hiking.
Just a short (8 inch or so) handle for city walks and training, or any other time I need tight control.

I will never use a dog door, cats are smart, and learn to follow dogs through them.

Groomer for nails

I feed Gigi 90% raw and a nibble of Nutro chn rice and oatmeal

I use tape style ajustable for a dog over 50lbs

No I prefer to know where all my "kids" are and let them out myself

If you have a yellow lab, it is much easier to see the quick than on a black dog (or at least a dog with black nails). I trim them myself, and also ask the vet to do it during their visits. Mine get Nutro lamb & rice.

For collars: nothing but Lupine here. They last a lot longer, they seem to hold up against odors, and clean very easily. I think they also have a lifetime guarantee. I don't use leashes very often as we have a 2 acre fenced yard - we go for walks without a leash.

I absolutely would not get a dog door. That gives them too much control over what they can do which means you lose control over them. Taking them out, even if to your fenced yard, is a way to reinforce your role as leader.

We have a yellow labby too

We rescued her from a guy who was abusing her. She's pretty submissive but her nails were very tough to cut. So I used to take her to Petsmart and have the groomer trim them (not often enough tho).

When we moved, I had no close by place to take her and have them done so I ordered a pair of Miller-Forge dog nail clippers from Foster/Smith. Those are really great.

Our dog is cooperative and I make her lay down and take one foot at a time and take a little off till at a time. You will notice when cutting there is a spot where it looks like the nail might bleed if cut - kinda hard to describe over the net. Try looking at the nails freshly cut from the groomer to get an indication of about how far to cut. Or have the groomer show you.

As far a collars/leashes, we have a regular nylon collar and 6 ft. leash (I do also have a 20 ft leash for training and "staking" out when camping. A lot of labs do good with the prong collars for better control when walking. I may wind up getting her one to teach her a nicer walk. She's good with commands other then "heel".

Dog food - most lab owners like Kirkland (made by Diamond and sold at Costco) or Diamond brands; also a few other kinds - no one I know feeds them the cheaper grocery store kind. I'm a member of

http://www.lab-retriever.net/board/

You'll find a lot of your questions are answered regarding your lab there. Its one of the best labrador message boards on the net

I cut my own dogs nails. If you take jut the tip off, it's alright. But I've been doing it for the past 4 years.

Apollo is a 5 year old Bouvier des Flandres mix. He's a hunk

He has a normal nylon collar. He wears that most of the time, and I use that with a flexi lead if I am just taking him down the street. But for walks I use a Halti, choker, and a nylon leash.. only because he pulls and has some behavioral problems (Like chasing people on bikes, kids, otehr animals. ANd the halti and choker are the only things that helps me control a 85lb dog.)

He eats Hills Prescription Diet z/d, because he has food allergies.

He also has a bath once a year, and is brushed two or three times a week.. and right now is shaved every 6 to 8 weeks.. but once septempter hits, it will start growing in, for winter. And then it waill have to be brushed everyday.

My dogs always had a groomer/vet do their nails at $5 a pop but then I am chicken and much of the time so were they..

Mine had sturdy leather collars and leashes as I think they last the best over time (unlike if you leave your most expensive one at the dog park like I did and then kick yourself in the butt for it). I use a halti on dogs that have pulling issues if I don't need a perfect heel from them (obedience trials etc)...

Mine were on Nutro and loved it.

They were smooth haired dogs so got baths once a year or if they were muddy.

Obviously, they don't need brushing like a regular coat so only once in awhile for massage purposes really

The same concept is used for cutting dogs nails as cats. If their nails are white where you can see the quick like cats nails then just cut slightly in front of the quick line. If black nails just take off a little bit at a time. If you do happen to cut to short you can use baking flour to help stop the bleeding, but they do make stuff called Qwick-Stop to apply to the nail if cut to short. Groomers and vets will cut nails but if you learn how to do so yourself it will save you the trip to their places.

Dog food ~ Everybody has their own opinion on this but working at a pet store and now in a vets office(i hate having to sell Science Diet) I've learned the in's and out's of reading food labels. IMO the best food out there right now is Nutro Natural Choice. My cats get Nutro and so do my dogs. You can try the Large Breed formula since she is a lab and they are known to have joint problems. Large breed formula is supplemented with glucosamine and chondrotin.

Collars/Leashes ~ My dogs do not wear collars at all, except for leaving the yard, i then use a choke chain. I've heard/read about way to many situations of dogs(even cats) hanging themselves from their collars while unattended. Leashes i like to use are leather ones, they cant cut into your hands like nylon if you have a dog that pulls or just lunges out of nowhere so theres no burning.

Never used a dog door in 24 yrs of owning dogs.

I wish you the best of luck with this puppy!!

I have an 8 year old Sheltie named Max. He eats Nutro Senior and mixed vegetables. His treats are carrots. He is a chubby little guy. He barks at everything especially my grandma and loves to get in the car but doesn't like going anywhere (gets nervous and carsick).

I dunno what kind of leash we use, a black one

No dog door for him, I don't like them.

I occationally clip his nails or else he goes to a groomer twice a year and they do it.

how do you cut dogs nails??

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http://www.drjwv.com/care/nail_fig1.jpg

There's a good picture that shows what the nail is. If your dog has white nails, you can see the blood supply. You want to trim, just up to the blood supply [so you don't cut it]. If your dog has black nails, it's safest just to takte the tips off.

Do I have to bring him to a groomer??

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It's a lot cheaper, and better for your dog to do them yourself. Often times dogs get groomed once a month, if that, nails should be trimmed every week. Often times, if you haven't been doing this with your dog often enough, they will be very dramatic, and may even try biting you. Firstly, ignore the screaming- they'll get over it. Secondly, since your dog is larger, if you have someone who can hold the dog in a hug, so your dog can't wiggle/runaway or try to bite you, it might be easier.

When I got my puppy as a 13 week old the first time I went to trim her nails she started screaming and trying to bite me. I had to hold her muzzle for five minutes all the while she was screaming, after 5 minutes went by she was like "OMG! That didn't work! You didn't let me go... I... I just don't know." after I had her attention, after trimming each foot she got a treat. While I was trimming I kept saying [in a calm voice] "Good girl, very good girl. etc." I trim both of my dog's nails once a week [fridays are usually our day.] my younger dog lays down for it usually [so much easier for her and me]. My older dog hates having them done, she usually yelps at every nail, but she knows if she bites me she's going to die, so yelping is all she does. Honestly, people make nail trimming into a big thing, if you take the tips off, and you do it every week, you'll eventually cut the nails back to a good length, and you don't need to worry about cutting the quick. If you do accidentally cut it too short, corn starch works well to clot it, or you can buy quik-stop. They are going to whine about it and act like they are dying. We all know how painful it is cutting our own nails back too far, however, that kind of pain isn't even comparable to cutting off your finger or anything like that... so it's really not something to totally freak out over. The more you go "Ph baby I'm so sorry!" the more dramatic your dog is going to be.

Which Dog food do you use??

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Right now I feed Exclusive Lamb & Rice to one dog, t/d to the other in the morning. At night they get raw food. I'm going to put both dogs on Canidae once the lamb and rice is gone [it gives one of my dogs BAD gas]. The raw I feed is Nature's Variety, but I also feed beef/chicken/etc.

What is the best leash and collar????

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My dogs have Lupine nylon collars, I use a regular 6ft leash when I'm training them [or going somewhere with a lot of people]. I use the retractable leash when we are walking some place where they really don't need to behave on leash.
My dogs know they can walk far on a retractable, but when I put a 6ft lead on them don't continue to try and walk out.

Do you use a dog door????

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I don't because my cat is an indoor only cat, and because I don't want them to be in the yard with no one home. [They could get out of the yard, get stolen, etc.]

We recently had a client who had a dog door, she lost two of her pugs [they stayed outside in the heat] to heat stroke, because they didn't come inside/were too hot. Granted, pugs don't do well in the heat, but I can't imagine coming home and finding my dogs dead/stolen/poisoned/gone etc.